Chris Claremont

As my colleague Murphy Leigh reported yesterday in an excellent piece, Marvel Comics has cancelled Black Panther & The Crew after only two issues, and Murphy’s piece makes a persuasive argument that both Marvel and the comics press (us here at Capeless included) could have done more to raise awareness of the title. But in this follow-up piece I’m going examine how the cancellation of Black Panther & The Crew exemplifies a particular problem Marvel’s currently…

Welcome to another edition of “Back Issues”, the column where I examine a character, concept or theme making waves in comics today through issues from the past. Tomorrow, Marvel’s Iron Fist will be released via the studios’ partnership with streaming service Netflix. In honor of the latest Marvel hero to make his debut, today’s column is going to take a look back at over 4 decades of Iron Fist comic book tales and give you…

Welcome to another edition of “Back Issues”, the column where I examine a character, concept or theme making waves in comics today through issues from the past. Last week saw the premiere of Legion, a new FX TV series based on the Marvel character created by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz. The series follows David Haller, a mutant currently being treated for schizophrenia as a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Haller is one of the few…

Sequart, the premiere organization for peer-reviewed comics scholarship, has turned their eye to arguably the greatest X-Men scribe in the title’s history: Chris Claremont. Their new book on Claremont’s time with the mutant family, entitled “The Best at What He Does: Examining Chris Claremont’s X-Men”, takes on the monumental task of looking in depth at the writer’s seventeen year run at the helm of Marvel’s flagship title. At 296 pages, the book attempts to “analyze [sic]…

Welcome to another edition of “Back Issues”, the weekly column where I examine a character, concept or theme making waves in comics today through issues from the past. Today, we look at the history of the Hero for Hire, Luke Cage! Tomorrow the latest Marvel TV series debuts on Netflix. Luke Cage joins Netflix’s line of Marvel series, which include “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones”, both of which have been hits with audiences as well as…

Welcome to another edition of “Back Issues”, the weekly column where I examine a character, concept or theme making waves in comics today through issues from the past. Today, the Loves of Peter Parker! Earlier this week, Twitter was abuzz after photos surfaced from the set of new film “Spider-Man: Homecoming” that appeared to show the web-slinger rescuing a red-head, among others. Fans found themselves asking if one of these women could possibly be Mary…

You heard it right — this past Sunday, at FlameCon 2 in Brooklyn, Chris Claremont, one of the definitive writers of the X-Men in the late 20th century, basically told us all that Kitty Pryde is the queerest character he ever wrote. Of course, the man speaks in riddles, so it takes some unraveling to see it. At the tail end of the panel “Pride and the X-Men,” panel member (and New X-Men artist) Phil Jimenez asked Claremont: “Who…

There’s very few series as convoluted and winding as the X-Men, featuring over two dozen main titles since it’s creation in 1963. This week’s Point of Entry will try to unravel the main storyline through the X-Men universe, focusing on six key jumping on points. The X-Men have been many things over the years, mostly a reflection for the world, pointing out prejudice and racism. Many of their enemies are relegious zealots or groups that would…

The highly-anticipated return of Nightcrawler didn’t disappoint, garnering mostly-positive reviews from critics and readers. Claremont is taking him around the world in issue #2, releasing May 14, 2014. Keep an eye out for the variant cover from the magnificent Tim Sale! [FROM THE OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE] This May, Nighcrawler’s loved ones have been targeted – and it’s up to him to put an end to it in “Nightcrawler #2,” the next exciting chapter…

Welcome to Cape Watch, where we explore the most interesting and/or biggest releases of the week from the “big two” publishers. Here’s what to look forward to this week from DC and Marvel: DC Comics ________________________________________ Batgirl #30 Barbara Gordon is having an ordinary day, nothing special. But then, [gasp!] something goes wrong! Now Batgirl must fight Ragdoll to save her roommate Alysia, in this newest issue by Gail Simone (writer) and Fernando Pasarin (Artist)….